Paper short abstract:

From 2012 to 15 Palma changed from a small fisherman village to the operational centre of dozens oil&gas companies. In 2016 most of these companies left. This article aims to look at Palma’s inhabitants and how their rural life was shaken by an urbanization dream that had to be put on hold by now.

Paper long abstract:

Until last year Mozambique was achieving an impressive economic growth and considered as one of the fastest-growing economies worldwide. This growth was due to various factors, namely the investment in megaprojects in the country. Parallel to this economic growth the urban population has grown tenfold in the last decade, and several rural areas started their urbanization process. For instance, the region of Palma in the North East of the country can be held as example. In Palma, the discovery of one of the biggest unexplored gas reserves led to the fast evolving of the offshore Mozambique natural gas industry. Palma changed from a small fisherman village to the operational centre of dozens of oil&gas companies. A new city started to rise. Though, in 2016, the drop of the world commodities prices, coupled with a series of economic and political disturbances in Mozambique, resulted in an economic slowdown. Most of the oil&gas companies fled the country or left only essential staff behind. As a result, Palma stagnated. This article aims to look at Palma's inhabitants and how their rural life was shaken by an urbanization dream that had to be put on hold by now.